401a change in the lake water conditions. The vegetation of the
lake shore constits of a sedge community and both lower
arboreal pollen frequencies and the disappearance of tree
stomata could suggest that woodlands are not so extended in
the lake shore than previously. It is, however, important to
keep in mind that Lake Pavin watershed is larger than its
topographic drainage basin due to the occurrence of numer-
ous subaerial and subaquatic springs (Fig. 22.1 , Chap. 22 ).
The precise limits of Pavin watershed are still poorly defi ned,
but it has been shown that nowadays the lake water trophic
level is highly sensitive to agricultural practices outside the
crater rim (Chap. 1 ). It seems thus very likely that this has
been the same in the past. Accordingly, the development over
the last seven centuries of agricultural practices outside the
crater rim probably impacted land use (and thus pollen rain
at a regional scale) but also the trophic level of Lake Pavin
(and thus diatom assemblages or non-pollen palynomorphs
such as rotifer resting eggs). This interpretation is in agree-
ment with old paintings from Lecoq realized in AD 1867
discussed in Chapron et al. ( 2010 ) and illustrating a former
Lake Pavin panorama dominated by grasslands outside the
crater rim , while its inner slopes (i.e., the topographic drain-
age basin of Lake Pavin) were still largely forested. Only two
peaks in Ti are in addition observed in the upper diatomite
unit in PAV12, while lakes Aydat, Bourget and Meerfelder
are clearly characterized by increasing trends in detrital
inputs over the last two millennia (Fig. 23.12 ). These trends
of detrital inputs in these contrasted European lacustrine sys-
tems were related to increasing soil erosion due to develop-
ment of land use and agriculture in their watersheds (Lavrieux
et al. 2013 ; Debret et al. 2010 ; Arnaud et al. 2012 and Martin-
Puertas et al. 2012 ). Because these two peaks in Ti are occur-
ring during the Little Ice Age (LIA) in PAV12 and are
contemporaneous with periods of enhanced fl ooding activity
in lakes Aydat and Bourget (Lavrieux et al. 2013 ; Arnaud
et al. 2012 ; Chapron et al. 2005 ), but also glacial activity in
the Alps (Arnaud et al. 2012 ; Simonneau et al. 2014 ) and soil
erosion in maar lake Meerfeler (Martin-Puertas et al. 2012 ),
they are probably more refl ecting a climatic signal (shits
toward colder and wetter conditions) than anthropic activi-
ties. Following these authors (and numerous studies in
Europe), it is, however, very likely that human practices dur-
ing the LIA, had impacts on the watersheds vegetation cover
and favored detrital inputs to these lakes, including in Lake
Pavin.
Clear traces of recent human activities in the Pavin topo-
graphic drainage basin are sparse and concern essentially the
building of successive infrastructures to stabilize its outlet
(Chap. 1 ) and the development of some tracks and paths
along the inner slopes of the crater rim (Fig. 22.10 ). To
some extent, it is very likely that woodlands around Lake
Pavin were used for domestic needs over the last centuries,
but this maar lake might be in fact considered as one of the
few preserved natural site in the French Massif Central. As
further discussed in Chaps. 1 , 2 and 3 this specifi city of Lake
Pavin in the region may be more related to its “dangerous”
reputation than its relatively limited accessibility. In this
paper and in Chap. 22 , several stratigraphic and geomorpho-
logic evidences are also highlighting the development of a
wide range of subaquatic slope instabilities and at least two
large events associated with the generation of violent waves
since the lake formed ca. 7000 years ago (Chapron et al.
2012 ). It seems therefore possible that geological hazards in
this maar lake may have contributed to its preservation from
growing human activities over the last millennia.
Sedimentary event labeled E1 presented in Chap. 22 is
only identifi ed on the plateau at site PAV08 (Fig. 22.8 ). This
2 cm thick light colored layer (higher L* values) is character-
ized by lower TOC and HI values bearing a similar organic
matter signature on a S2 vs. TOC diagram than littoral sedi-
ments as shown in Fig. 23.9. According to the new age-depth
model established for PAV08-P1 (Fig. 23.4 ), this sedimen-
tary event E1 is dated to AD 1915 +/− 5 and can be corre-
lated with the historical earthquake that stroke the town of La
Bourboule in AD 1921 located at only 15 km from Lake
Pavin (Fig. 23.13 ; Table 23.2 ). This earthquake reached an
MSK intensity of 4.5 at the epicenter (Sisfrance database,
BRGM, Lambert 1997 ). Compared to other studies docu-
menting the impact of historical earthquakes on lacustrine
sediments from European regions characterized by a moder-
ate seismicity (Chapron et al. 1999 ; Monecke et al. 2004 ;
Nomade et al. 2005 ; Strasser and Anselmetti 2008 ), it seems
that Lake Pavin organic rich sedimentation in littoral areas is
unstable and easily remobilized when submitted to gravity
accelerations associated with seismic waves propagation.
Following the conclusions of Strasser and Anselmetti ( 2008 )
it is, however, also very likely that this limited remobiliza-
tion of littoral sediments down to PAV08 coring site has been
favored by the perturbation of subaqueous sediment pore
pressure after the artifi cial lake level drop by ca. 4 m in the
late eighteenth century (Chap. 1 , this issue). Sedimentary
event labeled E2 described in Chap. 22 is only identifi ed at a
single site from the deep central basin in core PAV09-B1
(Fig. 22.8 ). This 2 cm thick layer is essentially characterized
by very high values in MS and is dated to AD 1880 +/− 70.
Given the dating uncertainties, this event interpreted has a
fi ne grained turbidite originating from a canyon, is poten-
tially contemporaneous with two nearby historical earth-
quakes that stroke the study area in AD 1863 (the Mont-Dore
MSK intensity 5 event) and in AD 1892 (the Issoire MSK
intensity 7 event) located at 11 km and 29 km from Lake
Pavin, respectively (Fig. 23.13 ; Table 23.2 ). According to
former studies on lacustrine sediments sensitivities to instru-
mental earthquakes (Monecke et al. 2004 ; Nomade et al.
2005 ) both of these historical earthquakes could be recorded
in nearby Lake Pavin. Another similar study combining23 Pavin Paleolimnology